Missing its 'rock' in Evans, UConn men regroup

Kevin Duffy

Updated 12:20 am, Sunday, November 25, 2012

STORRS -- For the second time in three games, Kevin Ollie will see a familiar face on the opposite sideline.

In last Sunday's double-overtime win over Quinnipiac, it was Tom Moore, a longtime UConn assistant. This afternoon, it'll be Stony Brook coach Steve Pikiell, a UConn point guard from 1987-91 and graduate assistant from '91-92, Ollie's freshman season.

Don't expect Ollie to get too emotional, though.

"I don't care if it's (Quinnipiac assistant) Scott Burrell; I don't care if coach Calhoun comes out of retirement coaching somewhere else, it's going to be the same thing," Ollie said Saturday. "We're going to play the right way and hopefully we do that Sunday."

UConn, 4-1 and ranked No. 21 for the time being, will be without sixth man R.J. Evans when it hosts Stony Brook this afternoon (4, Gampel Pavilion). Evans -- "the rock" of the team, as Ollie has put it -- suffered a sternoclavicular sprain, located in the collarbone area, during a Thanksgiving Day practice, and will miss "significant time" while he recovers. Ollie did not provide a timetable, but he said Evans would have been sidelined six weeks if the bone had been fractured.

"I tilted my head one time and boom, he's on the floor," said UConn junior Shabazz Napier. "He started yelling and it looked like something bad happened. I'm just happy he sprained it. I was so worried on Thanksgiving that he may have broken his collarbone."

Evans' injury occurred during a box-out drill, which makes perfect sense: UConn's been doing an awful lot of those lately. The Huskies have been outrebounded in every single game, including Monday's 66-60 loss to New Mexico in the Paradise Jam championship.

"Yesterday in practice, that's all we did," said UConn forward DeAndre Daniels.

The Huskies' trouble on the boards is two-fold: Tyler Olander, a natural high post player, is the center and Daniels, a natural wing, must play power forward. And, in the Paradise Jam, foul trouble rendered Olander ineffective. The 6-foot-9 junior fouled out in two of three games and totaled four points and one rebound in 21 minutes versus Wake Forest and New Mexico.

"If you're playing 15 minutes and you're fouling out, that's going to disrupt you," Ollie said. "(Olander) has to stay out of silly fouls. He can't go over the back, but he still has to be aggressive."

With Evans out, the guards must avoid foul trouble, too. Napier (36.6 minutes per game), Ryan Boatright (33.8) and freshman Omar Calhoun (31) will all have increased roles, if that's possible -- the trio is already accounting for 61 percent of UConn's scoring. The Huskies will likely receive more minutes from Calhoun, a wing who got some reps at point guard during Saturday's practice. Seldom-used guard Brendan Allen may see action as well.

"You can't be R.J., but you can be yourself," Ollie said. "There's going to be some roles that will be different, so Omar (Calhoun) may have to play some point if one of the guys gets hurt or one of the guys gets in foul trouble."